Earth Day...Go Hug a Tree!

This week was a short but long week!


Behavior in the classroom has been...hmmm....how do I say this without being censored and bleeped out! HORRIBLE!! I could blame it on the changing weather, but I won't. I so wanted to request at my last Superintendent meeting for a velcro wall! I refrained, kept quiet, and just accepted the fact that it may be Spring Fever!

Earth Day was around the corner and so was our field trip to see Disney's Oceans. I really thought that would make them behave like perfect little angels...Bahaha! ~Yes, that's a huge laugh out loud! Some of these kids just don't care about any form of consequences. When is the paddle coming back to schools? I bet that would straighten them out! I got my booty smacked a few times or a chancla thrown and I turned out ok. Heehee! To my surprise I had 5, yes 5 parents request their child not attend our field trip because of their poor behavior at school and at home. Wow! Yay parents! Deep down I did feel bad because in the 12ish years I've been teaching I've never left that many behind for behavior. I was and still am very appreciative of the parents showing support with the behavior issues! ~Thank goodness! Let's hope this Earth Day is the start of a new day for my munchkins and not only did they learn about keeping their Earth clean but consequences suck if they don't behave!

The munchkins had a great Earth Day and we all went out to hug a tree! Our field trip turned out to be a great time too. The movie was great and they loved it.


This week is going to be a very long week! TAKS testing!! My munchkins don't get a TAKS test but our end of the year testing will be in a few weeks. ~Ugh! TAKS testing will be for 3 days which means total lockup for us! Most schools ship out the lower grades during TAKS just so they won't make noise. Well, we don't get that luxury and we stay in our classroom all day. No PE and no recess time after lunch for 3 days! ~Can you imagine! Oh Lord! I try to keep them with a normal schedule and during our PE time I either let them play some fun games or I pop in a movie. This year though, my student intern will be locked up with them! ~Poor girl! I've been asked to administer the TAKS test to 3 Dyslexia students! YIKES! ~I don't want to!!!!! The pressure I feel just to administer the test is crazy...can you imagine the pressure these poor babies go through when they take this awful test?!! ~Lord help them! The only reason I said yes was...well, not to piss off administration...haha! Actually, I said yes because two of the babies that I'll be administering the test to are two that I had for my K-2 loop and qualified as Dyslexic. I would do anything for those kids! Instead of having a stranger test them they asked me so they would feel comfortable. I have to swallow my selfishness of not wanting to do it and do it for them. I pray they pass!! Third grade gets only one shot this year!!! Pray all munchkins do well!
Stick around for more to come....
XOXO's
Oopsie....they're upside down! haha

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, and Pumpkins

Last week our main adventure was a field trip to the Mesilla Valley Maze and Pumpkin Patch! Yay! Woohoo! (jumping up and down) Yippie!!!

We had so much fun!!! If you have never been to a maze or pumpkin patch it should be a must!! Mesilla Valley has the best one, I think! Not only did the munchkins have fun, each teacher did as well.

This was the first trip on a school bus for many of them and probably the first trip outside of their own neighborhood. It was an hour ride and no potty accidents! Whew!!! They were so good and had fun looking around as we drove through El Paso to Las Cruces, NM.

We had a little drama when we loaded the buses in the morning with our sack lunches and milk. Let's just say some, ok...one janitor isn't much of a gentleman. Sheesh! I think chivalry is dead!! I won't get into the details because I may throw in some colorful language that may get your eyeballs to pop out! haha! Let's just say, I wanted to bop him one!

Back to the happy times!....

The munchkins took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch and got to pick out their own pumpkin. They had so much fun and there were so many in the huge field! We had talked about how pumpkins grow and read them a couple of books with pictures, but for them to get the actual experience was amazing. It was cute to hear them use the vocabulary they had learned in class. They scurried like little field mice as they searched for their perfect pumpkins. They would see one, grab it, look at it, then move on to the next one. Once they found "the one" they knew! Guess that's like the perfect man! haha Pick a few and throw some back..haha! Yes, that's a whole other blog! heehee


The pumpkin vines are pretty tough and some munchkins had a hard time pulling off their pumpkins. Once one or two got the twisting action down right, they went around helping the others. We wrote names on the bottom of their pumpkins so they knew which one was theirs at the end of the day. The stem was pretty prickly and I was just like the munchkins searching for my "perfect" pumpkin and pricked myself a couple of times...ouch!

It was a beautiful day to top it off! After the hayride we sat to eat lunch and time was flying! It's true time flies when you're having fun! Boy were we having fun!!! Decisions, decisions...do we do the corn maze or the huge slides??? We had about an hour left because it would take us another hour to get back to school. If we get lost in the maze who knows how long it will take us to get out and if a search party would need to be sent in after us. Hmmm??? If we just slide then we don't get the experience of walking in a corn maze!! ~ Ok decision made!...we're going into the maze...eek! I had to remember a few things...DO NOT lose a child was #1...haha! ~Keep counting, 17 students, 17 students! Then I had to remember...pay attention! If I don't, we'll be going forever in circles. ~Should I leave bread crumbs like Hansel and Gretel?? No wait, one of the munchkins might eat them!! In we go!!!! ~Wow, look how tall Ms. Buddé! Taller than you! Are we going to remember how to get out Ms. Buddé....I hope so!!! As we walked a bit into the maze the turns started to creep up on us...right or left??? ~Wait...there's a sign! Mini Maze??!! It was a poem and clues to follow in order to get out... a shorter way out for the little munchkins. ~Yay! Whew! Thank goodness because I was beginning to get worried! It was the cutest poem about bees and there were 10 clues to help us out! Guess it was my Hansel and Gretel way out! ~Woohoo...we made it out!!


Now it was time for the slides!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeee! There were about 5 HUGE slides that they were excited to get on. Some of their little faces just looked up at them with a little hesitation but I had them grab their potato sack and run up the hill before they thought about it too much! After the first time down the slide they LOVED it and kept going back. That was the best part of the trip for me to watch...they were laughing so much it was adorable. Of course I had to go down the slide myself...heehee! As myself and my other partner in crime waited at the top for our turn...all our kids were at the bottom chanting our names...Ms. Buddé, Ms. Buddé, Ms. Cabral, Ms. Cabral! Little munchkins from other schools kept cutting in front of us...~Hey! It's MY turn...I wanted to say...heehee! Finally....Wheeeeeeeeeeee! SPLAT! Ms. Cabral crashed into me...haha! The kids loved to see us make fools out of ourselves and so did we!



It was time to load the bus...wait!...potty break before another hour ride back! On the bus some of them fell asleep...funniest thing ever! Poor things slept or squished each other or against the windows...but they were quiet! Shhhh!!!!!! Ahhhhh...nice!


What a wonderful experience they got and I was lucky to share it with them! What a fun day we had!


This week is a short week...tomorrow is their costume dress up day, Wednesday is pajama day and half day early release, Thursday and Friday the kids are off but we have teacher inservices...ugh!
Stay tuned for more....
XOXO's